SANXENXO, Spain (VN) — There’s a saying that the best rider always wins the Tour de France. Every rider in the peloton brings his A game to the Tour, and inevitably the strongest rider on the strongest team wins. There have been exceptions, but nine out of 10 times, that axiom holds true.

The Vuelta a España, which opens Saturday with a team time trial in Galicia, is quite another story.

Almost no one targets the Vuelta specifically. It’s as if no one even considers the Vuelta until the Tour is over. Then everyone says, ‘oh yeah, there’s another grand tour to race, let’s see who can win!’

Some are coming back from injury and hungry to save their seasons, as is the case of Chris Horner (RadioShack-Leopard). Others are desperate to find a ride for next season (see Chris Horner). Yet others are using the Vuelta as a springboard for the world championships, which takes place on a hilly course near Florence, Italy. More than a few riders are here because they’ve been ordered to. Some are keen to win the race, but they won’t know if they have the legs to do it until they hit the mountains.

Pre-race favorite Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) admitted he was “more tired than expected” after riding to third in the Tour. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) estimates he starts the Vuelta “at 75 percent” of full strength. Sergio Henao (Sky) “hopes to do well” in his first crack as a protected GC rider.

All those different ingredients add up for a very interesting stew. Or estofado, as it’s called in Spain.

Andrew Hood

Andrew Hood cut his journalistic teeth at Colorado dailies before the web boom opened the door to European cycling in the mid-1990s. Hood has covered every Tour de France since 1996 and has been VeloNews' European correspondent since 2002.